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We used the stream-aligned magnetohydrodynamics (SA-MHD) model to simulate Carrington rotation 2210, which contains Parker Solar Probe’s (PSP) first perihelion at 36.5R_⊙on 2018 November 6, to provide context to the in situ PSP observations by FIELDS and SWEAP. The SA-MHD model aligns the magnetic field with the velocity vector at each point, thereby allowing for clear connectivity between the spacecraft and the source regions on the Sun, without unphysical magnetic field structures. During this Carrington rotation, two stream interaction regions (SIRs) form, due to the deep solar minimum. We include the energy partitioning of the parallel and perpendicular ions and the isotropic electrons to investigate the temperature anisotropy through the compression regions to better understand the wave energy amplification and proton thermal energy partitioning in a global context. Overall, we found good agreement in all in situ plasma parameters between the SA-MHD results and the observations at PSP, STEREO-A, and Earth, including at PSP’s perihelion and through the compression region of the SIRs. In the typical solar wind, the parallel proton temperature is preferentially heated, except in the SIR, where there is an enhancement in the perpendicular proton temperature. This is further showcased in the ion cyclotron relaxation time, which shows a distinct decrease through the SIR compression regions. This work demonstrates the success of the Alfvén wave turbulence theory for predicting interplanetary magnetic turbulence levels, while self-consistently reproducing solar wind speeds, densities, and overall temperatures, including at small heliocentric distances and through SIR compression regions.

 

Abstract In van der Holst et al. (2019), we modeled the solar corona and inner heliosphere of the first encounter of NASA’s Parker Solar Probe (PSP) using the Alfvén Wave Solar atmosphere Model (AWSoM) with Air Force Data Assimilative Photospheric flux Transport–Global Oscillation Network Group magnetograms, and made predictions of the state of the solar wind plasma for the first encounter. AWSoM uses low-frequency Alfvén wave turbulence to address the coronal heating and acceleration. Here, we revise our simulations, by introducing improvements in the energy partitioning of the wave dissipation to the electron and anisotropic proton heating and using a better grid design. We compare the new AWSoM results with the PSP data and find improved agreement with the magnetic field, turbulence level, and parallel proton plasma beta. To deduce the sources of the solar wind observed by PSP, we use the AWSoM model to determine the field line connectivity between PSP locations near the perihelion at 2018 November 6 UT 03:27 and the solar surface. Close to the perihelion, the field lines trace back to a negative-polarity region about the equator.